Palm Beach County to abandon western growth plan

This really is a must read article from the PB Post, click title for link. The subtitle of the article could be called "The seduction of the status-quo." It really points out to the importance of planning for the type of development pattern you want; not the one that is based on haphazard and piecemeal processes that do not consider the whole picture. And, many times, those that oppose one version of a future plan for an area of land realize after-the-fact that one of the discarded alternatives was better than the playing out of the "de facto" plan - the one embodied in current land development regulations and comprehensive plans. It also points out that conditions are not static and often change - and can change quickly. And, to those that are devotees of the Hometown Democracy movement, it shows that the most popular plan is not necessarily the best plan.

I also find it interesting that the County spent $700,000 on this attempt (more if you include the time of their enormous staff) and we, the city of Lake Worth spent about a $1,000,000 and counting on consultants, with still nothing to show for it. Now, my concern is what we will end up with is something that will win the last war, but not something that will help us deal with future challenges. When I resigned from the Planning Board in December of 2006 in order to run for office, we were meeting every week. One week dealing with current applications and the next dealing with the Master Plan and resulting documents. Will we have anything as a result of the time and money spent on this effort? And, once we have something, will it address our current future scenario, rather than the past? The date now is February 2009.

Another thing this brings to mind is that we all should be against further development in the central and western part of Palm Beach County. I, for one, am for a firm urban service boundary line beyond which you do not have extensive development. It is also incumbent on cities like Lake Worth to have their own house in order enough so that there is a rational and possible alternative to sprawl development patterns. Much of the current City Commission is committing an environmentally selfish act for not taking advantage of the natural geographic strengths of our community - existing infrastructure, access to transit - now and in the future, authentic historic buildings and neighborhoods, etc. Our entire community has essentially been "red-lined" by those in positions to make decisions on corporate locations, capital investment and the like. Why is that?

And, lastly, it's a poor choice of a headline since it leads one to believe that by the County abandoning their western growth plan, if you don't read the article, that somehow this is a way to stop growth to the west. That conclusion couldn't be farther from the truth.